A Very Organic Year

This will be my last post on Organic Confidential for the time being, as I have other demands on my time. The archives will remain up for now. If you'd like to contact me about writing, editing, speaking, consulting, or for any other reason, you're most welcome to do so; my e-mail is in the sidebar. All content on this site is copyright-protected, so please check with me before re-distributing or publishing anything. Comments are open for now as well, and will be moderated. Thanks very much for visiting, and happy new year to all.

Elaine

2007 in Review

The direction of the organic industry and community feels uncertain as 2007 comes to a close. The mainstreaming of organic and its presence on supermarket shelves is no longer news, but the implications of that, and perceptions by consumers of what that means for organic integrity and smaller organic farmers, are ongoing issues. Thus we have J.M. Hirsch, Associated Press food editor, launching his 2008 food forecast by saying that organic has "jumped the shark" in marketing terms, and declaring organic co-opted. I disagree with that as a blanket statement, but I'm seeing more and more comments like that; where's the response from the organic community?

Here, my list of the top organic stories, events and trends of 2007.

1. Location, Location, Location. In order to accomodate growing demand and price pressure, some manufacturers are using low-cost and high-volume organic ingredients from China and other countries where the legitimacy of certification is in question. Meanwhile, eaters have embraced locally grown or produced food beyond all expectations. This leaves the organic industry with an image problem and in a defensive position. Might be a good time to engage in some deep reconsideration of and alignment of values.
2. Organic and Climate Change.  In good news, organic agriculture actually got recognized for its environmental benefits; by forsaking petroleum-based pesticides and fertilizers and embracing crop rotation and biodiversity instead of monocropping, organic -- and especially local/organic -- is the food of choice for global warming warriors.
3. Farm Bill. The exhaustive and Byzantine legal showdown known as the Farm Bill came up for renewal this year, and organic and sustainable agriculture advocates worked very hard for some supportive provisions. See the Organic Trade Association's press release about the Senate version passed in December, and view the Organic Farming Research Foundation's updates and analysis here.
4. Whole Foods/Wild Oats Merger. The saga of this buyout really raised the question of whether or not the natural foods industry is its own universe and marketplace or part of the greater food industry. Did Whole Foods compete with Wild Oats? Does it compete with Trader Joe's? With Safeway and Wal-Mart? With small independent stores and local organic farmers at farmers' markets? All of the above? Most people I know, organivores and locavores all, shop at different places on different days based on a whole spectrum of factors. We have an ideal of the perfect food we want to buy -- LocalFreshOrganicSeasonalAffordableSustainableFairTradeHumane PurchasedFromPhotogenicSmallFamilyFarmer -- but on some days, life limits our ability to do so.
5. The Rahodeb Reveal. In a related story, Whole Foods Market founder and CEO John Mackey's blog postings as Rahodeb have earned him a spot on year-end lists of CEO misbehaviors. As noted here, no one who has followed Mackey's corporate journey was all that surprised. It was odd, but so was the FTC's hardball effort to stop the Whole Foods/Wild Oats merger when much bigger mergers with antitrust concerns proceed unimpeded.
6. Slinging Milk and Mud. USDA has yet to propose the long-awaited revised standards for pasturing and other organic dairy practices. Meanwhile, a war of words about what organic is supposed to mean has been centered on dairy, but it's gone far beyond that too, leaving too many people thinking that organic doesn't mean anything. The organic community must elevate its dialogue about this issue above its destructive tone.
7. Packaging Awareness. Plastic or paper? Or too many layers of both? Sustainable packaging -- recycled and recyclable, non-toxic, well-designed and minimally resource-intensive -- is becoming a plus for consumers. For a long time, organic manufacturers just had to make an organic product and didn't really have to be all that progressive in the full scope of their business, but that's changing; consumers expect more environmental and social awareness, and just organic isn't enough anymore.
   
8. Emerging Categories. Personal care/cosmetics and apparel/texiles are two categories that use organic ingredients but remain without standards for an organic label. To some extent consumers are sorting it out for themselves, and a critical mass of interest may have been reached, making environmental consciousness not only right but necessary to these industries.
9. Private Label Organics. Store lines including O Organics (Safeway) and Archer Farms (Target) are rapidly expanding; along with natural food store private label brands like Whole Foods 365 and Everyday Organic, these brands have won over many consumers by offering high quality organic foods at lower prices . . . at least until shoppers realize that these foods, while certified organic, may not meet the ideal mentioned in No. 3 or may have ingredients sourced from China or elsewhere. The result is the whole "co-opted" perception. Consumer education about what organic does and and does not mean, by law, and where individual choices still must be made, might help prevent disappointment and help shoppers make informed organic purchases that are right for them.
10. FAO Applauds Organic (Sort Of). The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concluded that organic farming was good for food security, biodiversity and the environment, then backpedaled a little, saying organic wasn't enough to feed the world's hungry.

A couple of other trends worth mentioning: First, I am noticing renewed interest in vegetarianism and veganism, and especially in a sophisticated, multicultural kind of vegetarianism. It seems connected to minimizing energy and resource footprints. Second, though the organic industry seems Internet-averse at times, there are really wonderful sites and blogs writing about food and environmental issues. In no particular order, some of my favorites:

• Culinate.com
• Ethicurean.com
• Sustainable Food News (subscription required)
• The Daily Green (Hearst is behind it, but it's not bad)
• Grist and the Gristmill blog
• NewWest.net and the Spade & Spoon series
• ChewsWise (Sam Fromartz's blog)
• U.S. Food Policy Blog
• Edible Nation, the Edible Communities Magazine Blog
• WorldChanging

Comments

[Lynn from Organicmania.com]

Hi, I hadn't visited your blog in a while and was sad to realize that you are no longer posting. However, I take this as a sign that your writing and consulting business has taken off! Please do post from time to time and keep the archives up! There's so much good info here! (Or come visit me at OrganicMania!)

Lynn
http://www.organicmania.com